1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dyeing method of dyeing a plastic lens and a base body to be used for dyeing a plastic lens.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a dip dyeing method has been adopted in most cases as one of dyeing methods of dyeing plastic lenses for spectacles. This dip dyeing method includes: preparing a dyeing solution by mixing disperse dyes of primary colors of red, blue, and yellow and dispersing the mixture in water; heating the dyeing solution to about 90xc2x0 C.; and dipping a plastic lens into the heated solution, thereby dyeing the lens.
As an alternative to the dip dyeing method, there has been proposed a vapor-deposition dyeing method. This method includes heating sublimatable solid dye under vacuum to sublimate and vapor-deposit the sublimated dye onto a plastic lens which is heated simultaneously under vacuum, thereby dyeing the lens.
The conventional dip dyeing method and vapor-deposition dyeing method, however, has the disadvantages that it is difficult to provide a stably dyed lens. In particular, it is difficult to dye a lens of low dyeability or to dye a lens in deep colors, or in colors of high density. Furthermore, it is desired to more easily and effectively dye a lens.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and has an object to overcome the above problems and to provide a dyeing method and a base body capable of easily and effectively dyeing a plastic lens and also stably dyeing various lenses in various colors.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
To achieve the purpose of the invention, there is provided a dyeing method of dyeing a plastic lens, including: a step of producing a base body to be used for a dyeing operation, the base body being applied with dyeing solutions each containing a dissolved or fine-grained dispersed sublimatable dye to form a dye application area on the base body, and the base body having a first face and a second face and at least the first face including a region having at least one of a good heat absorption coefficient and a good infrared-light absorption coefficient and the second face being formed thereon with the dye application area; a step of placing the lens in a predetermined position in a vacuum vapor-deposition device; a step of placing the base body in the vapor-deposition device so that the dye application area on the second face of the base body faces the lens without contact therewith; and a step of heating the first face of the base body under vacuum in the vapor-deposition device, thereby sublimating the dye of the dye application area to vapor-deposit the sublimated dye on the lens.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a dyeing method of dyeing a plastic lens, including: a step of producing a base body to be used for a dyeing operation, the base body being applied with dyeing solutions each containing a dissolved or fine-grained dispersed sublimatable dye to form a dye application area on the base body, and the base body having a first face and a second face and at least the first face having a coating region for preventing sublimation and the second face being formed thereon with the dye application area; a step of placing the lens in a predetermined position in a vacuum vapor-deposition device; a step of placing the base body in the vapor-deposition device so that the dye application area on the second face of the base body faces the lens without contact therewith; and a step of heating the first face of the base body under vacuum in the vapor-deposition device, thereby sublimating the dye of the dye application area to vapor-deposit the sublimated dye on the lens.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a base body to be used for dyeing a plastic lens, the base body including: a first face; and a second face; wherein at least the first face includes a region having at least one of a good heat absorption coefficient and a good infrared-light absorption coefficient, and the second face is formed thereon with a dye application area applied with dying solutions each containing a dissolved or fine-grained dispersed sublimatable dye.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a base body to be used for dyeing a plastic lens, the base body including: a first face; and a second face; wherein at least the first face has a coating region for preventing sublimation, and the second face is formed thereon with a dye application area applied with dying solutions each containing a dissolved or fine-grained dispersed sublimatable dye.